SCOTTISH Labour leader Anas Sarwar must give answers about suspicious “bot” activity on his social media during the Holyrood elections, the SNP have said after a shadowy Israeli firm was revealed to have attempted to meddle in the vote.
Last week, the French Government’s Viginum agency – which is tasked with protecting against foreign digital interference – published a report stating that an Israeli firm named BlackCore had targeted the SNP and First Minister John Swinney during the Scottish Parliament elections.
Viginum identified hundreds of fake accounts targeting Swinney and the SNP on social media in an operation that ended on May 8, the day after Scots went to the polls.
The SNP have asked questions of Scottish Labour because, during the campaign, Sarwar’s social media was artificially boosted by online “bots” – automated programs that mimic human behaviour to manipulate content and inflate engagement.
As The National reported in January, the Scottish Labour leader’s Instagram saw a massive 1760% increase in average “likes” almost overnight. His first 16 posts after January 8 clocked up an average of 5028 likes each, compared to just 271 for the 16 leading up to January 8.
After Sarwar wrote in the Daily Record that Labour would be “unleashing the most sophisticated and largest digital operation of any party in Scotland”, his posts also began seeing hundreds of comments from accounts claiming to be based in places such as Italy, Sydney, Madrid, Paris, and South Florida all writing vaguely pro-Labour messaging.
Scottish Labour strenuously denied paying for the fake activity, but the SNP have now called on the Sarwar to investigate whether the bots used to boost his online popularity were paid for by Israeli tech firms.
SNP MSP Calum Kerr said: “Over the course of the Scottish election campaign, the SNP observed that posts across our social media platforms were subject to an unprecedented level of negative reactions and comments from accounts which appeared to be AI-generated bots.
“We also noticed a sudden significant increase in artificial positive engagement on Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s social media channels, specifically on X and Instagram.
“With these serious allegations from French security services it is imperative that the UK Government, which has responsibility for national security, urgently investigates this alleged hostile state online interference in our democracy."
Kerr said the "allegations pose a series of questions for Sarwar", including:
- Will he come clean on what was behind his AI-bot army?
- How was this paid for?
- And will he rule out any link between the Labour Party and Israeli firms interfering in our electoral process?
A spokesperson for Sarwar responded: “Why would Israel attempt to rig an election in favour of a pro-Palestine politician who has been on aid missions to the Gaza Strip and who called [Benjamin] Netanyahu a war criminal, against a party that described itself as a 'critical friend' of Israel?”
They went on: “It is telling that when Anas Sarwar and other prominent politicians of the Muslim faith face targeted, racist online harassment from the far right that the SNP are silent.
“This is just the latest spurious conspiracy theory promoted by a party that is up to its neck in sleaze."
On Tuesday, Scottish External Affairs Minister Stephen Gethins told The National that the UK Government needed to investigate the claims of an Israeli firm’s election meddling. “I think we deserve some answers,” he said.
A UK Government spokesperson said: "We're absolutely committed to safeguarding our democracy and elections.
"In the past 12 months alone, we've announced steps to ban political donations made in cryptocurrency, cap political donations from overseas electors, and introduce security briefings for political parties and candidates."
It is understood that UK Government officials have not verified the findings of the French government report.
After BlackCore was approached for comment on allegations that it had meddled in elections in Scotland, France, and New York City, its website and social media presence were wiped.
The identity of those behind the Israeli organisation has not been established.
